Scheduled Downtime for Forums

[Alcar]

To bring the Oddworld Forums’ search functionality into the 21st century, it has become necessary to schedule downtime.

Traditionally with downtime we simply close the forums to all non-Administrators and above. However, the enormous scale of the work needed to improve the search functions has necessitated the complete shut-down of the Oddworld Forums.

All other ODDnet partner sites (OddChat, the Oddworld Library, Oddworld Universe, and Oddworld-Web) will continue to function normally.

We anticipate that the improvements will take no longer than three hours, but due to the inherent unpredictability of computers (don’t worry, we’re on a Linux machine!), that figure could increase.

The downtime will begin on the 23^rd of July at 10pm (however, this time is very flexible) and therefore we estimate to bring the forums back online before midnight of the same day. We apologise for the short notice and inconvenience.


All the best,

The Oddworld Forums Management

[OddjobAbe]

There's a freakin' downtime anywhere I go recently. First that springs to mind is R.net.
Notice that I refer to is at R.net, as I am obliged not to nod anyone in the direction of websites with illegal content.

Before you say anything, it ain't a kiddy porn forum. It's more to do with the emulation of hardware.


BUT, this is irrelevant. Forum downtime? Great, I can spend three hours working out considering I'll be home from work by that time. But who needs to work out when you have a relative to do it for you while you watch TV downing fine ale?

[Hobo]

Yay, who cares I have a job and an alcohol problem now.

[Alcar]

And yet even with those problems myself, I find the time to fix things

Alcar...

[OddjobAbe]

Yay, who cares I have a job and an alcohol problem now.

Hobo, is the text in your location box a reference to Black Adder?

Everyone, I apologize for the irrelevant post. Therefore:

Downtime? Oh well, life moves on.

This post is now slightly relevant. I can be forgiven.

[Hobo]

Thinking about it, it is from Blackadder, but this was unintentional. May have subconciously inspired me though. God bless Blackadder.

[alf's brother's mate]

what will this three hours shutdown exactly involve you guys doing?

ABM

[Wil]

It will involve the database re-indexing itself. This is a largely automated process. The staff will actually be passing the time with an orgy. This will solve the problems encountered by anyone who has ever wanted to search for ‘Abe’, ‘Sam’, ‘Sea Rex’, ‘UYI’, ‘GEM’, ‘egg’ or any number of other Oddworld‐relevant terms.

[Havoc]

So you guys are actually setting out to fix the retardism in VB search or did they just release an update fixing this issue that I missed?

[Nate]

I assume this will be at 10pm England Daylight-Saving Time?

[Alcar]

Yes, it will be UTC+1.

To clarify what Max said. The upgrade will be primarily automated, but I'll need to step in every now and then to do some manual stuff. It's more about making sure the server doesn't die on me, thus leaving me in the middle of a very sticky situation.

At the moment, we're using a search routine which must have a minimum of four characters of text to search for. By doing this upgrade, we'll be able to search for a minimum of three. Furthermore, we're changing column keys which should vastly reduce the size of the search tables, and also improve the relevancy of the actual searches.

Alcar...

[Alcar]

T'went without a hitch!

Using MySQL's fulltext indices we can expect better relevancy and the ability to search for three-letter words.

I've also increased the maximum results returned from 500 to 1,000.

Alcar...

[Wil]

*hugs*

[Nate]

*blowjobs*

Have a cookie!

[alf's brother's mate]

Yay cookies. Can i have one?
I tried to search abe once and i had threads about citizen seige and masturbating come up
Not to worry though.

ABM

[Rex Tirano]

Hurrah for the admin orgy!

- Rexy

[alf's brother's mate]

That cat looks depressed.
Maybe he wanted to join in. :O

ABM

[Splat]

Actually the cat looks angry. The reason it looks angry is expressed in the caption.
Back on topic:



Love google image search.

[AlienMagi]

No questions.
Everything is right :P

[Strike Witch]

^Cowabunga, dudes.




...I liked the newer cartoon more.

[AlienMagi]

Why are there so many exclamation marks?

[Nate]

Shut up, AlienMagi.